I write about the gap between who we are at work and who we are when we put down the professional mask. Every week, I share one personal story from my life and a podcast conversation with someone who dared to write their own script, choosing authenticity over performance. The podcast is called Unprofessionalism. Each episode comes with a 1-page summary, in case you'd rather read than listen.
Unusual Retirement Project || Episode 16 on The Corporate Therapist with Jussi Hermunen
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Hi Reader, Yesterday was Tuesday, but it felt like a Friday. I am about to wrap things up, clear the decks and get everything in order before shutting the computer. The only reason I am doing this is the fact that tomorrow is Wednesday, and I've decided that Wednesday is now retirement day. Yes! I'm retiring. Not entirely, but for 20%, one day per week. For the next few weeks I'm prototyping what it might feel like to have one full day a week that belongs to no client, no deliverable, have-to. A day for whatever qualifies as creative, unproductive and fun. What I didn't expect was that the experiment would start changing things before it had even started. The anticipation of rest, it turns out, reorganises how I relate to work. My Tuesday is already different — sharper, more intentional — because I know what tomorrow is for. I've been handed a container for so long that I forgot I could reshape it. I'm curious what I'll find when I do. 🎤 Waiting for you on the Unprofessionalism podcast:Jussi Hermunen was brought in as a consultant on a multimillion-euro project when he discovered that his go-to tool was on the client's prohibited software list. He used it anyway. Not out of recklessness, but because a diagram reads the same on a factory floor as it does in a boardroom. A clarity that a 70-page document full of acronyms that nobody in those steering group meetings would admit they hadn't read could never provide. He has spent decades inside large organisations finding the people whose working lives are shaped by decisions they had no part in making, and asking the questions everyone inside stopped asking on day three. We talked about what happens when organisations become the very obstacle standing between themselves and the change they're trying to make and what changes when you stop delivering that change to people and start designing it with them. 🎧 Click here to listen to the interview📥 Download my 1-page summaryThat's it from my side. I hope to see you next week! Myriam
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What does it cost to be yourself — at work?
I write about the gap between who we are at work and who we are when we put down the professional mask. Every week, I share one personal story from my life and a podcast conversation with someone who dared to write their own script, choosing authenticity over performance. The podcast is called Unprofessionalism. Each episode comes with a 1-page summary, in case you'd rather read than listen.
Hi Reader, I spent my weekend with a group of strangers to whom I told the most personal story - one that not even my closest friends would be aware of. The shaking of my hands stopped as soon as I started. I didn't need notes because this was my story. While I am used to speaking to groups of strangers, I usually stand there with a specific role: the facilitator. This time, nobody knew about what I was doing from nine to five. All they knew about me was this one story. And wow, that felt...
Hi Reader, Last weekend, I went back to my hometown for the 25th anniversary of high school graduation. I prepared by reading old letters I found in a dusty box, handwritten by friends in 1995. I was terrified. Thrown back to an old version of myself: Puberty-me, who was definitely not too cool for school, who wanted to impress others by smoking too young and drinking too much. Nothing to be proud of, really. But when we finally met and hugged and chatted and laughed, I noticed that the...
Hi Reader, While cycling in the sun, enjoying my free Wednesday, it suddenly hit me like a sharp stone: Over the past five months I’ve been splitting my identity into tidy boxes that wouldn't overlap. Displaying old Facilitator-me on Substack, while the other part of me hatched a new narrative around Unprofessionalism. Unprofessionalism-me tries to write a book and challenges her own professionalism. And suddenly, I look at myself and think how damn professional of me! Isn't it the most...